Newspapers In Education and the Washington State Fair present
BIG in the Future:
STAR TREK AND SPACE
“Star Trek: The Exhibition” is The Washington State
Fair’s special exhibit featuring the science and technology
behind the popular TV series, “Star Trek.” Let’s explore the
science of space!
SPEED: REALITY VS. FICTION
If you’ve ever watched a video of a rocket launch, you’ll remember seeing enormous clouds of
smoke and flmes as the spacecraft lifted off. The vessels in Star Trek, on the other hand, don’t have
rocket engines and don’t shoot out hot exhaust gases. This is because in the show’s imagined future,
scientists have made major breakthroughs in physics and propulsion. These advances—unknown to present
science—allow a starship to “push” against something other than rocket exhaust.
Known as warp drive, these fictional engines give starships the ability to travel at many times the speed of light.
With warp drive, distances that would take tens of thousands of years to cover with today’s technology can be
reached in just a few hours or days. A Star Trek-like propulsion system would make a lot of people very happy!
IS ANYONE OUT THERE?
What qualities
does a planet
need in order to
support life and
be habitable?
When it comes to space, you’ll often encounter numbers so big that they give people headaches. It’s
estimated that the visible universe has about 170,000,000,000 galaxies (the Milky Way being one of
them) with a total of 300,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars between them (the sun being one of
them). As it’s often said, there are more stars in the universe than there are grains of sand
on all the beaches in the world.
To date, only a few planets that could support life have been identified, but scientists have
a way of making a guess about the total number of habitable planets in the universe, and
indeed, the number of civilizations like ours that could be out there—the Drake Equation.
The Drake Equation works by using factual estimates on the number of stars in a galaxy
and the fraction of stars that have habitable planets, along with guesses on the fraction of
habitable planets that develop life and the fraction of life that becomes intelligent.
Conservative values put the number of habitable planets in the universe at 50,000,000,000,000,000,000 (50
quintillion) while some optimistic estimates go up to 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (10 sextillion). Based on
optimistic estimates (that 15 percent of habitable planets develop life, and that 1 percent of life becomes intelligent
enough to reach out to space), there could be 84,000 human-like civilizations in the Milky Way alone! Whether or
not we’ll one day have alien neighbors like the Vulcans, Klingons and Romulans of the Star Trek universe remains a
mystery. All we can do is keep looking.
BIG GALAXIES
170,000,000,000
Number of galaxies in the visible universe
300,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
Total number of stars in those galaxies
50,000,000,000,000,000,000 —
10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
Number of habitable planets
SCI-FI TECHNOLOGY
From the beginning, science fiction movies, TV shows, comics and books have been stages for
people to imagine far-fetched technology that didn’t exist in our world. Laser weapons, cloaking
devices, teleporters, time travel machines; the list is endless. While most of these technologies
have remained nothing more than fictional, a number of them have made the leap to the real
world. For example, Jules Verne wrote about sending a man to the moon in his 1865 novel “From
the Earth to the Moon.” The 1909 short story “The Machine Stops” by E. M. Forster predicted
instant messaging, and David Brin’s 1990 book “Earth” envisioned the Internet as it is today.
“Star Trek” also inspired a number of gadgets that are a part of our daily lives. Traces of the
Personal Access Display Device (PADD) can be found in today’s tablet computers, Google Earth
is said to have been inspired by Spock’s Tricorder and universal translators exist in the form
of Google Translate and phraselators (speech-to-speech translators). But perhaps the most
important innovation based on an idea from “Star Trek” is the mobile phone. The inventor
of the mobile phone, Dr. Martin Cooper, got his inspiration directly from Captain Kirk’s
Communicator.
What other
technological
innovations have
you seen on TV?
Do you think these
innovations will
ever become
a reality?
Courtesy of TM & © 2014 CBS Studios Inc.
“Star Trek” and related marks are trademarks
of CBS Studios Inc. All rights reserved.
To register for NIE, visit us at
seattletimes.com/nie or call
206.652.6290.
071512615_01
“Star Trek: The Exhibition” brings visitors into the Star Trek universe and allows them to connect with
iconic Star Trek moments.Fans and novices alike will enjoy a first-hand interactive experience, exploring
the worlds, wisdom, science, stories, cultures, characters, fashions and fantasies of the Star Trek universe.
Among the main attractions of The Exhibition is the opportunity to sit in the legendary Captain’s chair,
where Captains Kirk and Picard took command of the U.S.S. Enterprise; the opportunity to pose in
front of a replica of the U.S.S. Enterprise; and one-of-a-kind displays, interactive kiosks and rare photo
opportunities. “Star Trek: The Exhibition” is a paid special attraction and requires an additional ticket.